


Sanctuary

by sevansa



Series: You built me palaces out of paragraphs [2]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Cheesy, Families of Choice, Fic is cheesy, Friendship, Gen, Hot!librarian!Roy, M/M, Pining, Teasing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:05:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14807504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevansa/pseuds/sevansa
Summary: Sometimes, the most precious people in your life, are the most troublesome. You can't help but love them anyway.//Or, the one where it's Roy's turn to pine. And Maes is really not helping.





	Sanctuary

Roy lets out a loud groan, even though he knows he's in hostile territory and any sign of weakness would be pounced on faster than you can blink.

And there it is, the shuffling that precludes an attack.

Roy tenses ― as much as a person who's laid on a couch can tense ― and braces himself for an onslaught.

“And what could possibly be bothering our resident Casanova, eh?”

Yeah. There it is.

He's fully prepared to ignore Maes, but the man somehow smushes himself into what's left of the couch and is poking at Roy’s side like a five-year-old.

The man spends way too much time with his daughter...

Uh, not that that's a bad thing, but you'd think that he'd be the one to impart some of his personality traits on a toddler rather than the other way around.

Then again, the way they act is virtually identical. Hell, Roy could even argue that _Elicia_ is the most mature of them.

“Huh, Roy? Huh?”

Roy can hear the grin in his ― former ― best friend’s voice. Curse the man.

“Stop _poking_ me.” God. He thought he had outgrown this sentence like, maybe, twenty five years ago. Goodness. What is it with Maes and turning him into a preschooler?

“No can do my friend. You’ve been sighing nonstop since you arrived, you didn't even offer to help my lovely Gracia with the food! Not that she needs any help, mind you, my wife is a master chef! And now with the groaning? Something’s up and I'm gonna figure it out.”

Roy lets out another groan and smashes his face in the back of the couch.

He speaks, but his words are muffled.

“You know, I can't hear you when you do that,” Maes says arily with all the patience of a doting father. He's had lots of practice so he's got the tone down pat.

Roy turns to him, glaring. Honestly it would’ve had better effect if he didn’t have a red line from the folds of the couch imprinted on his face. Maes heroically manages to keep himself from laughing. “I said, it doesn't matter anymore.”

“Hmmm. Beg to differ, my friend, I think it matters a great deal,” Maes says, poking his cheek.

Roy’s glare intensifies to epic proportions.

“Papa! Uncle Roy! Mama says dinner is ready!” A little voice calls out cheerfully.

Maes, using a super power that only fathers of a certain level of competence seem to have, materializes in front of his daughter picking her up and throwing her into the air. Through the peels of laughter, Maes calls, “Elicia! My responsible baby messenger, such talent is truly wasted!”

“Papa stop! I’m not a baby!”

“No!” he cries out dramatically, holding his daughter close to his chest and flopping back on a chair, Elicia shrieks in delight. ”Don’t say that! You’ll always be my baby!”

Roy is familiar with this scene from the various times he was here before and he knows if he lets them at it, they will be here the whole day, so he shakes off the weirdness that’s been weighing on him for god knows how long now and tries to be grateful for the things that he has. Like his friend and the family that accepts him so wholeheartedly into their folds. Rather than losing himself in thoughts about impossible golden beings and their gorgeous eyes and unreachable ways.

He is not pining. He is not.

Roy stands up and lays a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Come now, let’s not keep Gracia waiting.”

Gracia has outdone herself as usual. The food is hearty and filling, Roy thanks every lucky star that ever existed for Gracia’s cooking.

They chatter idly, about Maes’s newest case, about Roy’s peaceful days at the library ― Roy carefully edits any mention of golden angels from his tales ― they talk about Elicia’s day and Gracia’s newest interests. Its peaceful and energetic. And Roy loves every single second of it.

“The food was lovely Gracia, thank you,” Roy offers, smiling winningly at the woman.

“Anytime Roy, now help me clear the table, will you?”

They go through the motions, chattering innocuously and allowing Elicia to carry the spoons, to feel more grown up. And again Roy is hit with the overwhelming gratefulness he has for this family that enfolded him into their folds without batting an eyelash.

 

He’s washing the dishes, Maes is on drying duty, since they convinced Gracia that it's only fair that they do it, when Maes starts again.

And the gratefulness just fizzles away like a sad deflated balloon.

“So... Hawkeye didn't call to complain―”

“Hawkeye doesn't complain.”

“―meaning that you didn't do something dumb―”

“I _never―”_

 _“_ You're sleeping well by the looks of it―”

“That's seriously creepy.”

“―so it's not nightmares―”

“Really, Maes?”

“I don't get it! I give up! What's got you in such a twist?” Maes finally asks, exasperated.

Roy raises an eyebrow. “Oho, you're actually giving up?”  he asks, amused, totally ignoring the question.

“Don't test me Roy, I'm a detective, you won’t like it if I actually bust the big guns,” Maes threatens, and though his tone is serious, his eyes are gleaming wildly behind his glasses, bellying the amusement he's actually feeling.

Roy smirks. “We don't want you being charged with stalking right now, do we.”

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up. That was only once, you know that.”

Roy laughs.

It's nice. This homey atmosphere, the sound of running water, the suds between his fingers as they move rhythmically over the smooth porcelain, his best friend’s strong presence beside him. The faint sounds of Elicia and Gracia’s voices in the background  mixed with the low murmur of a radio. To Roy, it's the most peaceful he's felt since coming back from the war.

Maes seems to have realized the direction that Roy’s thoughts have gone to. He gives him a soft smile and nudges his shoulder.

“Hey, whatever it is, it's going to be okay.”

Roy is silent for a while. Then his shoulders droop and this is how Maes knows that he's won.

“It's... juvenile.”

“That never stopped you before.”

Roy makes a face at him, and Maes laughs.

Roy goes through two more plates, handing them to Maes when they're squeaky-clean.

“Remember the guy from the library I told you about? The one who spends almost as much time there as _I_ do?” And it _is_ notable, considering that Roy _works_ there.

“What about him?”

Roy balks at this, balks hard. He’s trying not to look at his friend directly, ducking his head and letting his fringe hide his face. Maes stills beside him and he can feel his friend’s piercing gaze on him.

For some reason, he's got a shitty poker face around Maes.

“You got rejected!” Maes exclaims gleefully.

“ _I did not!”_ Roy hisses back looking for all the world like an affronted cat. “He just didn't call, that's all.”

“Yeesh, touchy.”

Roy glares. But damn if Maes isn’t milking this moment for all it’s worth. No one ignores Roy Mustang especially if he had the charm on on high.

“Maybe he’s straight?” Maes offers trying to make the blow lighter.

“He really, really isn’t,” Roy says and it seems like those words remind him of why exactly he’s bummed in the first place. He seems to droop on himself, even his hair seems to lose some of its volume.

Maes’s shoulders are shaking where they are pressed against Roy’s. He'd spare more energy to be offended, maybe even glare, but he knows that it will be no use. Maes would probably laugh in his face. At least now both of them could pretend the man is being supportive.

“He can’t be all that great, and if he hasn't called you yet, then he’s not worth it,” Maes finally says, probably trying to channel the things he’d tell Elicia when she’s of the age that such things will be an issue.

“You didn’t see him Maes, he’s beautiful and so dedicated and―”

“Wow, you’re so gone.”

There is a second of stillness before Roy lets out a huff.

“I can’t even in good conscious protest that. This is pathetic.”

“Eh... Pathetic is such a strong word though.”

Roy turns to look at his friend. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“Well, if he doesn’t contact you, then you’ll respect his wishes,” Maes says simply.

“...I knew you were going to say that.” Roy takes a deep breath. “But, you’re right. I’ll try to forget about that, maybe I’ll even tell Havoc, that will make his day... Hell, year, even,” he finishes with a self-deprecating chuckle.

Maes looks like a proud papa bear. He beams at Roy so hard his cheeks must be hurting. He’s about to say something, probably something supportive, that will undoubtedly come out a bit condescending, when Elicia comes through the door.

“Uncle Roy? Your phone’s buzzing,” she says holding out his cell phone in both hands. Roy shuts the faucet and dries his hand with a dishcloth.

“Thank you, Princess,” he says, taking the small device.

She beams at him, he smiles back and then he’s busy checking the messages.

Roy stills.

“What’s wrong?”

Roy turns to face Maes, a pleased smile on his lips and it feels like he's regained all the confidence he's lost.

It’s obvious if you know what to look for, his shoulders are squared his eyes are gleaming and yep, there’s that confident smirk. Welcome back Roy!

He hands Maes the phone. The text says:

_Hey. This is Ed. From the Library. Is this Roy?_

“Well, seems like you’ve still got it after all.”

“Got what, Papa?”

“Nothing for you to worry about Princess! Now let’s go see what Mama’s doing hmm?”

“‘Kay!”

**

Maes herds his daughter out of the door before throwing one last wink at Roy, leaving him with his new love interest in peace.

Ah, to be young and carefree again, he thinks wistfully, disregarding the fact that they’re both the same age...

But, it’s been a while since Roy was on a date, and even longer since there was anyone he was actually interested in, and the fact that he is _now_ means that he’s healing. Slowly but surely.

For his friend’s sake, he hopes this all works.

 

**Author's Note:**

> First, I'd like to thank the marvelous MyFandomCausesHanaji for beta-ing  
> this fic so thoroughly! They're brilliant! Any typos spotted is totally my fault! (And it's super late so please excuse them)  
> Second, I'd like to thank you all who've read this far! Hope you enjoyed it.  
> You guys could find me on my tumblr  
> sevansarr if you wanna fangirl about those dorks for a bit.  
> Don't forget to leave a comment!  
> Good night!


End file.
